Iran's ambassador to Russia was quoted in an Iranian newspaper yesterday as saying that Moscow has agreed to transfer aerospace technology to Iran and that Tehran expects to launch the republic's first educational satellite within the next three years. Training provided by Russian professors is... MORE

Command-staff exercises involving Russian mobile forces began yesterday under the direction of General Staff chief Mikhail Kolesnikov, a Defense Ministry source reports. Staff officers representing various service branches will be taking part in the three-day drill along with representatives from key defense ministry directorates. (Interfax,... MORE

Former finance minister Vladimir Panskov has been named first deputy economics minister, a demotion that nonetheless keeps him in the corridors of power. Panskov is expected to be assigned to taxation issues, in which he is expert. (Rossiiskie vesti, August 27) Labor Unrest Continues.

Coalminers in Perm oblast have been on hunger strike for a week because of wage arrears. Sporadic strikes continue to plague the coalmining industry, despite this week's decision by miners' leaders to postpone a threatened nationwide strike. Meanwhile, Russia's health minister has warned of the... MORE

No problem is foreseen over the payment of this month's tranche of the IMF's extended Fund facility to Russia, economists say. IMF officials claim Russia is broadly fulfilling the terms of its $10.1 billion loan agreement and the Fund's board of directors is expected to... MORE

Russia's commander in Chechnya and the Chechen chief of staff yesterday signed an agreement to implement the armistice negotiated August 22 by Aleksandr Lebed. Russian troops are to complete their withdrawal to specified lowland sites outside Grozny by September 1, pending withdrawal of most of... MORE

No movement was recorded at the eagerly awaited talks, scheduled for July 23 and 24, on settling the South Ossetia conflict. Held in Vladikavkaz, capital of the Russian Federation's republic of North Ossetia, the talks were said by some reports to have adjourned after the... MORE

Tajik internal affairs minister Saidamir Zukhurov admitted to an interviewer yesterday that government troops recaptured the town of Tavildara after the armistice had taken effect on July 20. Zukhurov sought to portray the government troops' operation as hot pursuit of opposition forces. Tajikistan's Defense Ministry... MORE

Investigations are under way into a number of cases of alleged fraud during Russia's recent presidential elections. In general, the elections are considered to have been fairly conducted, and they were given a clean bill of health both by international observers and by the defeated... MORE

Russia's regular military forces are currently staffed at just under 89 percent of their authorized strength, as various draft deferments still free some 75 percent of all young men from service, Russia's Defense Ministry reports. It also says that criminal proceeding have been instituted against... MORE